Isaac Chapline (Chaplaine) arrived in Jamestowne, Virginia in 1610 aboard the Starr.

Little is known about his first years in the colony. In 1617 he was back in England planning to bring forty people to his plantation. In July 1622 he and his wife, Mary, and 12-year old John Chaplin, and four servants set out for Virginia on the James.

By 1622 Isaac Chapline had a plantation on the south bank of the James River near Jordan's Point called Chaplines Choice, and as a burgess represented it and neighboring Jordan's Journey in 1624 and 1625. A list of patented lands in 1625 showed that he held 200 acres in the territory of Great Weyanoke and 50 additional acres in Charles City. (See Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635). Chaplines Choice was about thirty miles from Jamestowne.

In 1628 he died at sea. According to "Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/25" "Apparently, Ensign Chaplaine was lost at sea some time before 8 Dec.1628 when the General Court ordered 'that John Chaplaine of Chaplaine's Choice shall have a commission granted unto him of the goods of Ensign Isack Chaplaine, who is supposed to be cast away upon the sea.' This is the last known reference to him." [John was probably his nephew]. The date of death of Isaac's wife is not recorded.

It is claimed that Isaac and Mary had a daughter named Mary Chaplaine who became the wife of Anthony Wyatt. This is believed primarily because Wyatt was an early owner of 'Chaplaine's Choice,' but there is no evidence that Isaac Chaplaine had a daughter or that Wyatt's wife was named Mary. Also, William Chaplaine* of Calvert County, Md. was possibly a son of Isaac and Mary but to date no documentary evidence in support of these claimed descents has been presented. Also unproved is the claim that the wife of Isaack Chaplaine was born Mary Calvert.

According to the Jamestowne Society there are no records documenting that Isaac and Mary Chapline had children.*

*As a possible 9X great grandson I would like to know! [MIC]

About the Surnames Chapline, Chaplain, Chaplin, and Chaplaine, etc.:

An article from the Maryland Archives reminds us that in the seventeenth century "the notion that one spelling was correct and all others wrong didn't yet exist. Within limits, all spellings were acceptable. What mattered was sound."

On page 15 of the book "Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia" Maria J. Liggett Dare said the following about the spelling of Isaac's surname:  

"It is said that when Isaac Chaplin called the attention of the ship's captain to the spelling of his name 'Chaplain' the Captain replied, 'We will then add an e,' and so it stood in the quaint spelling of the day 'Isaake Chaplaine.' In a second place Hotten spells the name Chaplin. It is sometimes spelled Chapline and in this generation so prevails."

The extent to which persons today named Chapline, Chaplin, and Chaplain are related is perhaps best resolved via Y-DNA. For more information see the Chapline Surname Y-DNA Project.

SOURCES

Dare, Maria J. Liggett. Chaplines from Maryland and Virginia, Washington, 1902.

Dorman, John Frederick. Adventurers of Purse and Person Virginia 1607-1624/5, Baltimore, 1956.

Hatch, Charles E., Jr. The First Seventeen Years: Virginia, 1607-1624, Jamestown Booklet No. 1, Williamsburg, 1985.

Hotten, John Camden. The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: 1600-1700, New York, 1874.

Jamestowne Biographies, Historic Jamestowne.org.

McCartney, Martha W. Virginia Immigrants and adventurers, 1607-1635, Baltimore, 2007.

McCartney, Martha W. Jordan's Point, Virginia Archaeology in Perspective, Prehistoric to Modern Times, Richmond, 2011.

McCartney, Martha W. Jamestown People to 1800, Baltimore, 2012.

∼"1610 colonist. Arrived in the ship Star in 1610. Living with Mrs. Chaplaine and John Chaplaine at "Chaplaine's Choice" in Muster of 1624/5. Mrs. Chaplaine is listed as "Mary" with the statement that she came in the ship James in 1622 and that John Chaplaine, kinsman, age 15 accompanied her along with 4 servants including a maid servant. in 1626 Isaack had 50 acres in Charles City and 200 acres in the territory of Great Weyanoke. He served as a member of House of Burgesses along with Nathaniel Cawsey."

Biographies of the Early Settles, Jamestown Biographies Project, Jester, [1987], 167-168, VMHB, Vol 121;138